# Online Giving

Lightpost currently has opted for a self-managed payment processor model for enabling online giving for your congregation.  This means that payments go directly to your own Stripe.com payment processor account.

## General Information

* Online giving is only available for logged-in members of your congregation (guest giving is on the roadmap).
* The Recurring giving feature is optional and not required.  It currently allows giving automatically every Sunday.
* Giving is available for **credit/debit cards** and **bank accounts (ACH).** You can configure which of these options you want to enable for your congregation.  The fee structure is different for each method.

## Available Reports

* **Contribution Report**
  * A full report of who gave what and when.
* **Payout (Deposit) Report**
  * A full report of deposits to your bank account and what contributions make up that deposit.
* **End of Year Contribution Letters**
  * The ability to create and make contribution letters accessible to your congregation.
  * Note: If only Online Giving is enabled, this report will only consist of electronic contributions done through Lightpost.  For a full accounting of checks/cash, the Financial Management feature is needed.

## Finance Categories

You have the ability to add and enable/disable categories or "buckets" for members to select contributions to be directed to.

## Stripe Account Notes

* You create and own your own Stripe.com payment processor account for your congregation.
* You are responsible for completing the entire verification process for your Stripe.com account.  
  * Your payouts will be suspended unless you complete this process.
* Your first payout will take 5-7 business days from your first transaction.
* Payouts will happen on a rolling business day basis, unless you change this setting in Stripe.
* Stripe fees apply for failed payments.
* You are responsible for all fees from the payment processor.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.lightpost.app/add-on-features/online-giving.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.